#i'm just saying that that doesn't speak very highly to your reading comprehension skills.

[a-most-beloved-fool]

since i just had the displeasure of blocking a new follower of mine who is a terf, i'd like to remind the new people here that I SUPPORT TRANS RIGHTS and if you don't, you should go ahead and unfollow and block me because i am not going to tolerate your bullshit. and that does mean ALL trans rights, not just people who are fully binary or who have medically transitioned.

[shecat105]

Some of these I agree with and some I feel are a bit too objective.

Big paragraphs are awesome! But use them wisely! Internal struggles, like panic or anxiety, are great in big paragraphs. It shows before even reading it that this is a big deal and it shouldn't be taken lightly. My rule is paragraph size doesn't matter, proper paragraph structure does. New topic, new paragraph. If a character is taking a moment to admire all the details in a piece of art, for example, you bet that's all one paragraph! Don't confuse the reader into thinking you're talking about something else. Each paragraph is its own topic. However, for scene setting, say explaining the environment before getting to the characters, separate paragraphs for each section you focus on is best here. Talk about the cityscape and buildings, then the foliage and wildlife, then the citizens and what they're doing, then get to your characters. All those are their own paragraphs. Think sorta how it would be posed in a movie.

epithets should be used, but only to break up the excessive uses of names and pronouns. One character in a scene and it's pretty boring to constantly read a name and the name pronoun over and over again. Same with multiple characters with the same pronoun. I use epithets to separate which character I'm speaking of if I've used names and pronouns far too much thay it could be confusing whom I'm referring to in that context. As a writer your first priority is comprehension. If the reader doesn't know what's going on in the scene, you need to fix it.

As for "said", if you use said, use it while you're describing something the character is doing. Rarely, if ever, leave it at "they said." There's always some sort of description you can put there, whether it is emotion, action, environment, mood, or internal monologue. Heck, I usually forgo "they said" in general and go straight into description. As a reader, I want to feel like I'm in the scene when I read. As a writer, I want to give as much as I can into the scene to show what I want the reader to know and feel. "They said" does not do that on its own. It's dialogue. We know they're speaking. Tell your reader why they spoke, what they sounded like, what they are doing, if they're suddenly doing something else (even so much as a mentioning washing a new dish is enough), who they're talking to and what they're reaction is, if the speaker is hoping for a specific reaction or expecting the worst, anything to help bring the reader into the scene. It's not bad to use it, but if you use "said", use it along with a description tagged on. It can be in the next sentence, just preferably don't leave it at "they said" before moving onto the next piece of dialogue.

As for said versus synonyms? Ehhhh, that's the most subjective one. Personally, I try to avoid said as much as possible in exchange for description. I use said very sparingly. When I bring attention to something being said, I'll use descriptive terms, like the ones mentioned above. It doesn't cheapen the affect. It makes it more immersive. If you'd rather make those phrases stand out, don't mention anything being said at all. Let the dialogue and other actions speak for you. (Ex: "Come on, help out a dear old friend? Pretty pleeaasse?" Tom stuck out his bottom lip and gave Brad his puppy dog eyes. Brad grumbled low, rolling his eyes, "Fine. I'll help.") Notice how not bringing attention to the dialogue the first time made the second one stand out? (I'm on mobile and really don't wanna mess up how this is flowing so I put a couple more spaces where the new paragraph would be instead.)

Long sentence, short sentence, vice versa is also incredibly subjective. This is highly dependant on many factors including story flow, how it's written, the mood, and even scene to scene. In general, this can tend to happen anyway, but don't force it. Let your skills do it for you. Tell the story first. Worry about things like this later, if at all. That's actually great advice in general. Story first, fancy edits later.

The rest I while heartedly agree on! For those I argued on, like I said, these points are pretty subjective and whatever makes you a better writer for the story you want to tell is best for you. If OPs advice is better for you, follow that, I just posed some alternatives on the ideas from my experience.

writers:

break up your paragraphs. big paragraphs are scary, your readers will get scared

fuuuuck epithets. “the other man got up” “the taller woman sat down” “the blonde walked away” nahhh. call them by their names or rework the sentence. you can do so much better than this (exception: if the reader doesn’t know the character(s) you’re referring to yet, it’s a-okay to refer to them by an identifying trait)

blunette is not a thing

new speaker, new paragraph. please.

“said” is such a great word. use it. make sweet love to it. but don’t kill it

use “said” more than you use synonyms for it. that way the use of synonyms gets more exciting. getting a sudden description of how a character is saying something (screaming, mumbling, sighing) is more interesting that way.

if your summary says “I suck at summaries” or “story better than summary” you’re turning off the reader, my dude. your summary is supposed to be your hook. you gotta own it, just like you’re gonna own the story they’re about to read

follow long sentences w short ones and short ones w long ones. same goes for paragraphs

your writing is always better than you think it is. you just think it’s bad because the story’s always gonna be predicable to the one who’s writing it

i love u guys keep on trucking